DPCC Chair Cicilline: Democrats Are Fighting to Clean Up Corruption in Washington as President’s Former Campaign Chair Sentenced to Prison
WASHINGTON, DC – Congressman David Cicilline, Chair of the House Democratic Policy and Communications Committee (DPCC), appeared on The Rachel Maddow Show on MSNBC to discuss steps Democrats are taking to make Washington work for the people. On the heels of the President's former Campaign Chairman Paul Manafort being sentenced to jail and continued convictions of Trump associates for corruption, the House passed H.R. 1, The For the People Act, an historic reform package to restore the promise of our nation's democracy, end the culture of corruption in Washington, and reduce the role of money in politics. Below are excerpts from the interview. Click here for the video.
"Well, obviously, this is a big event. This is a serious conviction and sentence. There are 199 criminal charges, 37 indictments or pleas and now five individuals sentenced to prison. This is significant, but I agree with your earlier guest, it's pretty extraordinary that for the breadth of these offenses, squirrelling away $55 million outside the IRS and avoiding taxes on that, fraud and bank fraud and the like, that he would receive a sentence so different from the sentencing guidelines. Those guidelines are designed to prevent disparity in sentencing because that disparity brings incredible disrespect for the judicial system and that's why they were created. So the idea that the court would depart from the guidelines which were 19 to 24 years, so significantly and give Mr. Manafort only a four-year sentence seems pretty extraordinary and I think is very much a response to white collar criminals that we too often see in our criminal justice system. Our prisons are filled with people who are serving much longer sentences for small drug offenses. So I'm disappointed. I don't think it did justice. But it's only the first part of his sentencing. He has another one next week and I am hopeful that the judge will sentence him appropriately next week and send a strong message about this kind of corruption and this sort of conduct and impose a sentence consistent with that."
"Absolutely. I think there is tremendous interest in that, and we will certainly continue to conduct oversight on that very issue. I thought it was very strange to see his lawyers come to the podium and say oh, by the way, no collusion. It was as if President Trump wrote his lines. It was very bizarre. Sort of unrelated to the case in Virginia. But I think, you know, the idea that conversations were had or pardons were dangled in an effort to perhaps persuade people not to cooperate or not be truthful is of considerable concern to the judiciary committee and is something I know we will investigate as part of our overall investigation. I think the other thing that's really ironic is on the very week we're about to pass this enormous democracy reform cracking down on corruption, raising ethical standards, getting money out of our political system, there are these serious convictions that continue in this administration for corruption that undermine the rule of law in our country and it's kind of an interesting contrast."